Sunday, December 03, 2006
Holiday time in the UK!
Blogging…again.
Whoa! I didn’t think anyone even read my blog. Thanks to all of you that have sent me emails wondering about the latest update.
So, where am I in European adventure? I have been to Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands since my last update. I will attempt to work backwards as my weak little mind finds that the easiest approach.
Last weekend I was in Amsterdam for Thanksgiving. What a trip! I stayed in the museum area right near Leidseplein square. What a LOVELY area. The canals are everywhere. There was a little skating rink and all these stands selling little waffles and pizzelles and other holiday types of sweets and cookies. The city of Amsterdam is very clean and everyone rides bikes. They ride the traditional upright, comfortable bikes…no racing bikes here. You have to be really careful not to walk in the bike lane and you will get run over. Luckily for me I saw another tourist do just that so I knew what NOT to do after that.
The Van Gogh museum is awesome. They have over 200 original Van Gogh’s in the museum as well as several other impressionists represented which allows you to see the similarities and the differences. On Saturday I spent about 3 hours at the Rijks Museum which is currently undergoing some major renovations but still has lots to see. I found myself mesmerized by the huge still life paintings of the Dutch Masters. Some of them do not seem “still” at all and seem to have lots of movement. I really loved the ones of typical skating scenes in Amsterdam. There was also one painter who did all these still life scenes in Brazil in the late 1600s. They (the Dutch Masters) were famous for all the hidden messaging in their still life painting.
The museum also had quite a collection of china, silver, and small household items which was very interesting as well. Saturday afternoon I walked around the Vogelpark for about 4 hours listening to my iPOD. It is a HUGE park with lots of small ponds and such throughout. At one end of the park there is a haven for all types of birds. There were a bunch of birds I had never seen before, check out the pictures. I am not sure what those birds are called but they are cool to look at.
I took the ferry over to Holland via Harwich UK to Hook of Holland. The ferry was like a cruise ship and had a movie theatre, multiple restaurants, and a casino. I really do enjoy traveling without airplanes. It is nice to be able to move around whenever you want. You can take a train from London to Harwich in about 1.5 hours, then 3.5 hours on the ferry, and another hour on the train on the other end. It is very relaxing cruising on the Channel. On the way back to the UK, the sun was setting on the Channel and there were just a few huge tankers out in the water. It was really beautiful. You can also take the ferry over from a few other spots along the UK coast. Next time I may have to try taking the ferry from Newcastle. I have been interested in checking out Newcastle ever since I saw it on the train to Scotland. It looks to be a very pretty town.
Rewind a couple more weeks. My friends Ruthie and Jim came to visit from Reno, Nevada. We have a great time. I stretched my weekend to 5 days and we took the train to Edinburgh and rented a car. We toured the Highlands from Pitlochry, Inverness, (gateway to the Highlands), down along the Loch Ness, through Fort William, past Ben Nevis (highest point in the UK) and down to Oban on the Northwest coast of Scotland. We managed to hit about 4 distilleries along the way including the smallest in Scotland. We tasted some very interesting and expensive Single Malt scotches. YUM!
We also took the ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull. We drove the car onto the ferry and then drove all over the island. We went to the furthest point of the island where you are looking towards the Isle of Iona. If we had more time we would have take the ferry over to Iona. Iona is known as the sacred isle and has lots of history. The sea is very blue, the rocks are various shades of pink, and you can see white sand beaches on Iona. It looks more like the Carribean than Scotland. Very beautiful place.
On our last day in Scotland we saw the William Wallace monument and Stirling Castle in Central Scotland.
The week before my friends arrived in London, I spent the weekend in Ireland. I previously posted the pictures so I imagine some of you have seen them. If you have seen the pictures of the sunset at Lahinch on the west coast of County Clare, there isn’t much more to say. What a lovely place. I did some hiking in the Burren and went to the oldest Dolman in the Burren. The Dolmans, also known as Portal Tombs is where some of the oldest human remains in the world have been found. The one I went to is know as the Poulnabrone Dolman and is much older than Stonehenge in the UK.
I also spent the night at a castle, wandered into a farmer’s market in the country, went to St. Bridget’s well, and also the Cliffs of Moher. Check out the picture of me at the Cliffs of Moher, the same spot I was about 6 years earlier. Quite a few changes in my life since then.
Today is December 2nd which means the holiday time is in full swing. I went to see the St. Peterburg Ballet perform the Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday. Absolutely great!!! It was the best Nutcracker performance I have ever seen. The Royal Albert Hall is an amazing venue and it was my first time there. The costumes and music were particularly good in this production. It was very different that what I remember watching on TV as a child.
Happy Holiday season to all! PEACE!
Whoa! I didn’t think anyone even read my blog. Thanks to all of you that have sent me emails wondering about the latest update.
So, where am I in European adventure? I have been to Ireland, Scotland, and the Netherlands since my last update. I will attempt to work backwards as my weak little mind finds that the easiest approach.
Last weekend I was in Amsterdam for Thanksgiving. What a trip! I stayed in the museum area right near Leidseplein square. What a LOVELY area. The canals are everywhere. There was a little skating rink and all these stands selling little waffles and pizzelles and other holiday types of sweets and cookies. The city of Amsterdam is very clean and everyone rides bikes. They ride the traditional upright, comfortable bikes…no racing bikes here. You have to be really careful not to walk in the bike lane and you will get run over. Luckily for me I saw another tourist do just that so I knew what NOT to do after that.
The Van Gogh museum is awesome. They have over 200 original Van Gogh’s in the museum as well as several other impressionists represented which allows you to see the similarities and the differences. On Saturday I spent about 3 hours at the Rijks Museum which is currently undergoing some major renovations but still has lots to see. I found myself mesmerized by the huge still life paintings of the Dutch Masters. Some of them do not seem “still” at all and seem to have lots of movement. I really loved the ones of typical skating scenes in Amsterdam. There was also one painter who did all these still life scenes in Brazil in the late 1600s. They (the Dutch Masters) were famous for all the hidden messaging in their still life painting.
The museum also had quite a collection of china, silver, and small household items which was very interesting as well. Saturday afternoon I walked around the Vogelpark for about 4 hours listening to my iPOD. It is a HUGE park with lots of small ponds and such throughout. At one end of the park there is a haven for all types of birds. There were a bunch of birds I had never seen before, check out the pictures. I am not sure what those birds are called but they are cool to look at.
I took the ferry over to Holland via Harwich UK to Hook of Holland. The ferry was like a cruise ship and had a movie theatre, multiple restaurants, and a casino. I really do enjoy traveling without airplanes. It is nice to be able to move around whenever you want. You can take a train from London to Harwich in about 1.5 hours, then 3.5 hours on the ferry, and another hour on the train on the other end. It is very relaxing cruising on the Channel. On the way back to the UK, the sun was setting on the Channel and there were just a few huge tankers out in the water. It was really beautiful. You can also take the ferry over from a few other spots along the UK coast. Next time I may have to try taking the ferry from Newcastle. I have been interested in checking out Newcastle ever since I saw it on the train to Scotland. It looks to be a very pretty town.
Rewind a couple more weeks. My friends Ruthie and Jim came to visit from Reno, Nevada. We have a great time. I stretched my weekend to 5 days and we took the train to Edinburgh and rented a car. We toured the Highlands from Pitlochry, Inverness, (gateway to the Highlands), down along the Loch Ness, through Fort William, past Ben Nevis (highest point in the UK) and down to Oban on the Northwest coast of Scotland. We managed to hit about 4 distilleries along the way including the smallest in Scotland. We tasted some very interesting and expensive Single Malt scotches. YUM!
We also took the ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull. We drove the car onto the ferry and then drove all over the island. We went to the furthest point of the island where you are looking towards the Isle of Iona. If we had more time we would have take the ferry over to Iona. Iona is known as the sacred isle and has lots of history. The sea is very blue, the rocks are various shades of pink, and you can see white sand beaches on Iona. It looks more like the Carribean than Scotland. Very beautiful place.
On our last day in Scotland we saw the William Wallace monument and Stirling Castle in Central Scotland.
The week before my friends arrived in London, I spent the weekend in Ireland. I previously posted the pictures so I imagine some of you have seen them. If you have seen the pictures of the sunset at Lahinch on the west coast of County Clare, there isn’t much more to say. What a lovely place. I did some hiking in the Burren and went to the oldest Dolman in the Burren. The Dolmans, also known as Portal Tombs is where some of the oldest human remains in the world have been found. The one I went to is know as the Poulnabrone Dolman and is much older than Stonehenge in the UK.
I also spent the night at a castle, wandered into a farmer’s market in the country, went to St. Bridget’s well, and also the Cliffs of Moher. Check out the picture of me at the Cliffs of Moher, the same spot I was about 6 years earlier. Quite a few changes in my life since then.
Today is December 2nd which means the holiday time is in full swing. I went to see the St. Peterburg Ballet perform the Nutcracker at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Monday. Absolutely great!!! It was the best Nutcracker performance I have ever seen. The Royal Albert Hall is an amazing venue and it was my first time there. The costumes and music were particularly good in this production. It was very different that what I remember watching on TV as a child.
Happy Holiday season to all! PEACE!
# posted by Joy and Blues @ 8:51 am 
